


dear witcher,

by transmothman



Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Affectionate Insults, Canon Compliant, Episode Fix-It: s01e06 Rare Species, Epistolary, Friends to Lovers, Insults, Letters, Love Confessions, Love Letters, M/M, Mentioned Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon, Mentioned Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Mild Sexual Content, Mutual Pining, bard typical dramatics, bard typical sluttiness, jaskier's magic messenger bird, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:26:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transmothman/pseuds/transmothman
Summary: Dear Witcher,I am thankful for my life, but in order to remain thankful for it I must push myself to discover everything it can bring me. How can I live if I simply invent tales of what others may do? Is the way to live not to experience those things for myself before sharing them with others such that they may be inspired to live too?jaskier has a correspondence bird, and writes letters to geralt while they’re apart. geralt responds, sometimes unwillingly.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 87
Kudos: 683





	dear witcher,

**Author's Note:**

> i got lovely feedback on my first fic for the witcher and im in love with this pairing so i wrote more! came to this fandom for the porn stayed for the Gay Yearning. also i totally stole a couple lines from the new amazing devil album (and one from a conversation with my partner)
> 
> all the letters are chronological, *** indicates a time jump (assume around a few months), although the letters themselves should make that clear too

  
  
Dear Witcher,

I see that you left the inn before sunrise. No doubt you have many more thrilling monster hunts lined up. Our adventure with the elves is branded upon my memories, and I feel sure it will bring much success and coin to us both. Your reputation will soar and I guarantee that before long, you will be welcomed to towns as the people’s savior, with beautiful women throwing themselves at you and townsfolk providing you with fine food and lodgings. I stake my own impeccable reputation on it. However, I know from experience that such things require careful maintenance, so I extend the invitation once again - I propose a repeat performance in a few months, such that I may gather new material for my increasingly popular songs, and such that your services remain in the public eye.

With enchanted affection,

Jaskier

  
  


Bard.

I don’t take writing supplies on the road. I don’t need a repeat. Be thankful you escaped with your life. 

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I am thankful for my life, but in order to remain thankful for it I must push myself to discover everything its continuation can bring me. How can I live if I simply invent tales of what others may do? Is the way to live not to experience those things for myself, before sharing them with others such that they may be inspired to live too?

I am enclosing a feather quill for our future correspondence, as your words were a struggle to read. The blood worked just fine as ink. Was it yours?

I am currently in Cidaris, and intend to stay for several weeks, but am willing to travel for a better offer. If you would like to meet, please let me know when and where.

With heartfelt diligence,

Jaskier, the Dandelion of the North

  
  


Bard.

Not my blood. Don’t want to know why you asked.

Haven’t had food thrown at me recently. These days people sing at me when they see me. It’s worse. I will avoid Cidaris per your warning.

What the fuck is this bird?

  
  


Dear Witcher,

He’s a correspondence bird; a gift from a former lover. I use him to send notes to uncountable admirers, and now also to you.

I must say, your handwriting is unexpectedly elegant. Despite lacking my training, you are clearly a natural calligrapher. It appears I should perhaps have asked more questions regarding your musical preferences - is there perhaps a certain style that you would prefer to hear as your soundtrack? My death growl is less well practiced than my falsetto, but I would happily work to improve it.

I am leaving Cidaris earlier than planned, chased from the court by a woman who unbeknownst to me was the fiancee of a recent charming bedfellow of mine. I will confess I have few places to go, and would prefer not to return to my family. Still, I have no doubt that I will find greater fortune soon.

With determined optimism,

Julian ‘Jaskier’ Alfred Pankratz

  
  


Bard.

Fine. I’m tired of hearing the same fucking song all the time. Need more variety.

Tracking a werewolf pack outside of Gors Velen if this finds you before I’m done.

  
***

Dear Witcher,

Thank you for another delightful caper through the wilds. I feel refreshed, invigorated, and perhaps even fulfilled by the experience of having a werewolf intestine land upon my beautiful lute. The strings are still making that interesting squelch when I play certain chords, but I dare say they will be fixed before long. 

I have composed several new songs based on your notes regarding my previous work, and hope they are to your liking. I am sure you will hear them before long, although the renditions of others will never have my passion, and I do wish I could perform them for you myself.

I wish you the best with the sea serpent, and will pretend to believe in your genuine concern that I may drown. May our paths cross again soon.

With inspired satisfaction,

Jaskier, the songsmith of shadows and stars

  
  


Bard.

You don’t need to keep writing to me. 

  
  


Dear Witcher,

How, then, will I find you when you most need me?

With unending resolve,

The comely poet Jaskier

  
  


Bard.

I won’t need you.

  
***

Dear Witcher,

What a dramatic turn of events! No sooner do I receive your last letter than I hear you may be in some trouble with the law over in Ghelibol. Seeing an opportunity for my charm and diplomacy, I come to rescue you just in time such that you are able to go after the noonwraith and take it down before its planned next attack on the corn farmers at midday. Had I not done so, they would surely have died at its hands. A ticking clock adds tension to any story, and just the memory of this one makes my heart race! Besides, the vulnerable side of the witcher, the side that sometimes needs another to come save him, will entrance the public and show them your humanity. 

With triumphant joy,

Jaskier, the Nightingale Prince

  
  


Bard,

I wasn’t going to let that attack happen. Another hour and I’d have cut down those guards with my swords.

Say you rescued me if you want, but don’t tell people I’m human.

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I have no doubt in your capabilities of escape, I simply feel glad that I could reduce the bloodshed it entailed. Perhaps you do not need me, but I believe we make a good team, and beyond that, I enjoy your company. Your conversation is surprisingly interesting considering how strong and silent you are, and there is more eloquence in a single one of your grunts than in the entirety of the songs Valdo Marx has written. 

I intend to travel with you more, and I no longer doubt my abilities to find you, so if you wish to avoid this you must develop superpowers of great stealth.

With decisive friendship,

The sempiternal singer, Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

Do you interpret everything I say as an invitation?

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I graciously accept your invitation. I am close by, and I will see you tomorrow.

With elated anticipation,

The loyal lutanist, Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

I won’t be easy to find.

***

Dear Witcher,

Worthy challenges bring spectacular rewards, as these last few months proved to me! You are hard to find but harder to leave. We traveled through soggiest swamp and dryest desert, and you masterfully adapted to the climes and monsters of each, though sadly my clothes sadly did not fare so well. 

I wish you the best with the siren. Though our paths may divulge here, they will soon once more intersect like two stars forever remaining in one another’s orbit - and what an honor it is to be so linked to the brightest star in any constellation.

With gleeful pride,

The freewheeling frolicker, Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

Quiet this morning without your constant chatter. Finally I can hear the forest.

Don’t be so reckless when I’m not there to keep an eye on you.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I miss you, too. I regret to inform you that my natural recklessness cannot be curtailed, although it perhaps appears in different forms around different people. Today, for example, I am laid up in bed with an injury to my wrist after sharing my talents with three simultaneous lovers last night, which will explain the uncharacteristically messy writing. If only I were walking beside you to distract myself from this pain. Should I find another witcher to follow who will protect me when you have abandoned me?

With unregretful hubris,

Jaskier the Fool

  
  


Bard,

I crave this silence. 

Don’t travel with another witcher. None of them are as patient as me.

Learn to find peace in solitude.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

Oh, I find plenty of ‘peace in solitude’. Imagine my most lascivious wink. And I do feel quite special knowing you won’t share me with other witchers.

On another note, I see you have begun signing letters with your name. Distinguishing yourself from my many other admirers?

With incorrigible enthusiasm,

Jaskier the Flirt

  
  


Bard,

Find better admirers if they all write you letters like this. Or find me if your hand has healed.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

It has healed perfectly, and stronger than ever. I even engaged in some weapon training recently when I happened across a particularly attractive instructor in the art. 

You do miss me.

With flattered exuberance,

Jaskier the Fighter

  
  


Bard,

Your incessant letters mean you’re able to annoy me even when you’re not around. At least there are benefits to having you with me.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

What are the benefits? ;)

With eager expectation,

The Jaskier of your dreams

  
  


Bard,

Someone to do the talking when we have to interact with people. You dress wounds I can’t reach, find food, watch Roach. Probably drive off animals with how loud you are. Don’t get an ego. They’re small things, I can live without them.

What sort of weapon did you train with?

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

Ah yes, all those tasks that with your recent boom in wealth could easily be undertaken by a hireling who would follow your instructions and keep quiet when you asked. You’re not so difficult to read as you might believe. 

I couldn’t seem to handle swords the size of yours, but I impressed enough with a dagger to fully seduce my trainer. I have ears out for where you are hiding, and will happily demonstrate my newfound talents once we reunite.

With skilful finesse,

Jaskier, the Buttercup of Benefits

  
  


Bard,

I’m in Beauclair.

Geralt

***

Dear Witcher,

This knife is exquisite. I will take the same care with it that I do with my finest garments, and that is saying quite something. To risk a single scratch on it would be a tragedy.

Our goodbye has brought sorrow as usual - what is a muse if not an ever evolving picture for my imagination to paint? Can the static memories of you in my mind ever compare to the new man you become daily, to the depth of color you provide to each of my tales before remixing it all just as I have managed to capture its transience in a permanent image? 

In this case, absence does not make the heart grow fonder, only more curious about what it cannot see.

With poetic longing,

Jaskier, the starry-eyed storyteller

  
  


Bard,

You’re supposed to use the knife. Keep training. Defend yourself if you need to. It’s not a strip of silk, it’s built to survive a fight.

Save the lament. You’d have died if you’d come with me for this one.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I don’t believe that I am able to be killed. I have had many near death experiences, and simply feel that if I could in fact die, it would have happened by now.

There is only one remaining thing that makes me fear for my life, and it is one we must discuss in person. I’m on my way.

With improbable immortality,

Jaskier, the timeless troubadour

  
  


Bard,

The same could be true for me. I’m on the trail of something new. I don’t know its weaknesses.

Ever heard of a selkiemore? Neither have I.

Geralt

***

Dear Witcher,

My performance was unparalleled as usual, but your own was also quite something to behold. I will confess that I did not intend for the betrothal to leave you with such lasting consequences. Pavetta is doing well, and has asked me to compose some lullabies for her child. It is a marked difference from writing of death and disaster. However, as all of Cintra now believes me a eunuch, I do not intend to stay long. I will finish my compositions and teach them to the royal attendants. Unless, of course, you have intent to return.

With soothing harmonics,

Oxenfurt’s ‘Most Likely to Succeed’, Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

The child has parents. He doesn’t need me, and I won’t endanger him. Don’t stay in Cintra long. I won’t return, and neither of us are popular there.

Geralt

***

Dear Witcher,

My repertoire expands daily. Tonight an adoring fan requested a song from an adventure we underwent years ago, and I simply could not recall the lyrics, refined and rewritten as they have been by our many journeys since. I may be able to keep up with your exploits, but can my fans keep up with me?

It has been a thrilling few months, and I hope our scampering up and down the continent has quelled your recent unease brought on by your child surprise. I know little of destiny, but a great deal of talent, passion, and purpose. I believe such things hold great importance in themselves, and that you find those things in filling contracts and hunting monsters. Keep doing this, but exercise caution as to the long term effects of ignoring destiny.

Still, the Countess de Stael has summoned me to her court for the first time in years, and for this reason it is for once I who must depart. Could this finally be my opportunity to earn a noble title?

With fanciful aspiration,

The future Count Jaskier de Stael

  
  


Bard,

It’s not difficult to ignore something that doesn’t exist. I live as I always have. 

You make a better bard than you would a count, and you don’t make a good bard.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I see you predicted how I might have interpreted the first half of that sentence. Never fear, for your harsh insults glance off of my beautifully polished dagger and reflect only onto my far less pretty court rivals. 

Did you know that the Countess was who first inspired me to write songs, before I met you? Hers was the first beauty for which I felt my usual flowered prose remained insufficient to describe. Not all emotions can be conveyed in mere words. Perhaps that is why you yourself use so few.

With sharp witticism,

Jaskier the Influencer

  
  


Bard,

No, I didn’t know who to blame for your life choices. I use few words because I have nothing more to say. Try it sometime.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

Desired by everyone here. Wearing velvet gowns and being fed grapes. Getting paid to play music and be sexy. Countess adores me. Life excellent.

How’s that for few words? Is this communication style easier for you to interpret?

With abrupt brevity,

Jskr

  
  


Bard,

Somehow even worse. I retract my previous letter.

Are you bored?

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

Bored? How could I ever be bored when I am the focus of everyone’s attention, the brightest young thing in the city, the talkative yet somehow mysterious traveler who tells so many stories yet has even more told about him? While reveling in such image and fame, what reason would I ever have to miss bedrolls in swamps and murderous giant insects tearing at my flesh?

With derisive objection,

Jaskier, the most courted at court

  
  


Bard,

Sounds terrible. What you call happiness, I’d call a nightmare.

Don’t keep writing on my account. Court happenings don’t interest me.

Take care of yourself. 

Geralt

***

Dear Witcher,

You may, in fact, have been right. Though I loved the extravagance and finery of my time in court, I found a certain spark of life to be missing. I could never renounce it as you do, but I will confess that such a stretch of time without the adrenaline of our quests brought me a certain malaise. Have we ever been parted for such a length?

It seems the Countess, though exquisite, is not such a dynamic muse as yourself.

With creative unrest,

Jaskier the Runaway

***

Bard,

You only came crawling back to me because she left you.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

As it happens, she did, although two or three other nobles almost immediately attempted to sweep me off my feet and into their own beds. I declined all and claimed a far more broken heart than I truly felt. In truth, the Countess’ dismissal brought me great relief which I was forced to masquerade as bereavement. I saw a clear path ahead of me that led only to you.

Did you sleep well?

With humbled transparency,

The newly free man Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

Yes.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I also missed the opportunity to thank you for saving my life. I know it was not the first time you have done so, but I felt myself closer to peril around the sorceress than I ever have during our previous escapades. Somehow, almost dying made me feel more content than I have in many months.

With heedless bravado,

Jaskier, cheater of death

  
  


Bard,

Where are you?

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I am in Mayena studying at their library. You seemed to be extremely preoccupied with your own new muse, as it were, and I felt I should afford you the same courtesy that you did me. I believe that everyone needs company, but I will not be an unwanted third wheel if you have chosen another.

With reluctant acceptance,

The recently replaced Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

Yennefer has better things to do than travel with me. She’s long gone. Don’t leave town.

Geralt

***

Dear Witcher,

I can’t believe you came for me! Rode into town all gallant like that where I’d just been ejected from the tavern by the owner’s husband and just lifted me up onto your horse like it was nothing! The world will make a romantic of you yet, or it will if I tell it to.

I am starting to understand why you bathe so much. Since leaving court I have become more aware of such matters of hygiene, and find myself longing to disrobe and sink into that hot water where I may renew myself.

With steamy suggestion,

The blushing maiden Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

You can join me in the bath when I next see you.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

What will happen when I do? ;)

With inflamed curiosity,

The fires of Jaskier’s loins

  
  


Bard,

We’ll both get clean.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

You are a tease.

With smoldering passion,

Jaskier, master of the liberal and erotic arts

  
  


Bard,

You’re sexually frustrated. Can’t find a companion?

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I simply learned recently that you do not exclusively bed whores. Though I have companions lined up outside my bedchamber door, the opportunistic part of me thought I may as well throw my hat in the ring to join you in yours. Express a certain type of interest, though surely I am not the first or last to do so.

With assertive aspiration,

Jaskier, the Conquerer of the Continent

  
  


Bard,

I have long assumed your hat is thrown into all rings. I rarely do likewise. There are complications I try to avoid.

Find someone to fuck, then come find me.

Geralt

***

Dear Witcher,

Once again, it is Yennefer who parts us. I would be less distraught if I saw in her the same unexpected wonders I see in you, yet when I glance into her eyes I see only storms and poorly veiled chaos. She may be beautiful, but that does not make her interesting to behold.

I suppose I will simply wait for your summons once that whirlwind blows away from you. 

With resigned heartache,

Jaskier, the melancholy minstrel

  
  


Bard,

She always leaves before sunrise. You’re the only one who bothers me during breakfast.

You’re telling me you don’t understand the desire to be around someone dangerous?

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

You’re not dangerous. A world without you would be infinitely more dangerous. 

What is it you want from me? To disappear for a night when you wave me away, entertain myself while you and her do all the fun parts and then come back at dawn the next day to cook for you?

With unjust jealousy,

Jaskier, the weak and wanting

  
  


Bard,

You don’t have to travel with me. You inconvenience yourself when you wander off for days at a time when we run into Yennefer. 

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I pray you will forgive my confusion, but most people are in a better mood after a good fuck, yet your particular cold fury after seeing her cuts deeper than usual. I know you tire of my resentment towards her, and I will drop this matter if you will only explain to me what it is that you see in her such that you desire her so much.

With mournful penance,

The lovelorn lyricist Jaskier

  
  


Bard,

I don’t know. It’s harder to control my actions when she’s around. I doubt that’s enough of an answer for you.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

It is enough of an answer, and a far more human one than I had expected from you. I apologize for my interference in your personal life. To see you unhappy is a worse pain than the bite of a necrophage, and as your friend, the duty of protecting you from heartbreak falls to me.

With concerned patience,

Jaskier, the sorrowful songbird

  
  


Bard,

Heartbreak isn’t something that can be protected against. Not if your songs are to be believed.

There’s rumors of a basilisk in Caingorn. You mentioned wanting to see one. Meet me.

Geralt

***

Dear Witcher,

I will not deprive you of life’s blessing for long. This will be my final letter.

I have already ruined countless torn up scraps of paper with all the wrong words. There are so many words, and not a single one to fill the space you have left within me.

I simply wanted to thank you for everything. I know you regret the adventures we had together, but, in all good faith, I cannot. Without our time together, I would not be the bard that I am. Thanks to you, I am known and welcomed wherever I go, never left wanting for a job or coin. When we first met, I sought to bring such fortune to you. In doing so, I found it myself. More importantly than that, I lived through and retold stories that the wildest extensions of my imagination could never have conjured. I walked every kingdom in the land and some that have now fallen, I danced through heat and rain and wind, I laughed, I sang, I suffered, I felt. 

I created what a lifelong court bard could never, and all of it was for you.

If you must say goodbye, witcher, please do so knowing what you meant to me.

This is a homing bird. It brings letters between two people, or two places, and no more. It doesn’t carry scandalous notes to my admirers, though that had been my original intention when I acquired it. I write to you, and you alone. And though I do not resent you for leaving, and though I will find happiness again someday, I know that every song and poem I pen for the rest of my lovesick life will be, once again, for you.

With unreasonable attachment,

Jaskier of Lettenhove.

***

Jaskier,

I should have replied sooner. You probably thought I kidnapped the bird. 

Things have changed. Yennefer and I aren’t involved. I found my child surprise.

You’d like her.

You deserve an explanation. Do you still want one?

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

Will it hurt? I’m broken enough already. It’s been months and I’ve barely started to heal.

You can keep the bird if you don’t reply. Maybe your daughter will like him.

With diminished sparkle,

Jaskier

  
  


Jaskier,

I never wanted a travel companion. I certainly never wanted a bard. One day I realized I had both. It took a long time to adjust to that. Even longer to accept that I liked it better that way.

I didn’t know I was lonely before you. Didn’t know I could feel. You’re everything the world says I’m not. You’re the most human person there is, you live a life that wouldn’t be possible without emotion. You ignore what’s simple and search for what’s complex, and if you can’t find it, you make it.

You once told me I don’t scare you. I believe you, but sometimes, you scare me. You show me what I’ve been missing. When all I did was defend myself against hate and violence, I was the monster they said. When you helped me, I became something else. I had no choice. You led me to situations I didn’t know how to handle, and I made mistakes I couldn’t escape. I blamed them on you. I sent you away when all I needed was time. 

Being without you is no blessing. It’s another curse I brought on myself.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

Thank you for the explanation. It did hurt, although not quite in the way that I expected. I may have reminded you of some elements of humanity, but I don’t believe you were ever a monster. Still, I like the people you and I grew into as we worked together. I would hate for us to lose what we learned from each other.

What do you want, now? If all you ask is my forgiveness from afar, you have it, unconditionally. If there is something else, I need you to tell me.

With heartwrenching honesty,

The lovely yet lonesome Jaskier

  
  


Jaskier,

I am in love with you.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

How dare you?

Isn’t everyone?

Since when?

What the fuck?

Why didn’t you say something when I told you I was interested?

With hopeful bewilderment,

Jaskier, the witcher’s paramour?

P.S. I am in love with you too.

  
  


Jaskier,

I had no choice in the matter.

Everyone is. Most of them fall more easily than I do.

I’m not sure. A long time.

I know I’ve done a bad job showing it.

I was neither ready to discuss my feelings nor confident in your own. You fuck a lot of people for a lot of reasons. You might have only liked me physically. You might have been trying to get back at Yennefer. It was too big a risk. I feared losing you more than losing her.

I’ve seen you fall in and out of love faster than I can finish a drink. This is the only time it’s happened to me.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

I have lost count of how many times I’ve fallen in love, you are correct. I do know that it is precisely one more time than how many times I’ve fallen out of love. You see, I am flighty like this bird, and I never waste a chance, and I will not choose the quiet comfort of what I know over the epic possibility of what I do not. For if my creativity dies, then so do I, and there can never be true creativity in what is comfortable.

With you I feel safe. Each time we meet is like the first time, like studying you anew. I could never run out of new material to write, not when your eyes reveal different flickering truths each day, or when the only certainty is in the impermanence of every moment we share. In other words, the more I write, the more I realize I still must write.

I have been more deeply in love with you for longer than I could have imagined being with anyone. I have been in love with you since the night we met, I was in love with you every time you yelled at me and insulted my singing and asked me to leave and stole the best years of my life, and I will still be in love with you even if you do something ridiculous like settle down in one place as a father, because no matter what, you will still always be so fascinatingly, ever-changingly, you.

With soft vulnerability,

Jaskier, the polymath of prose

  
  


Jaskier,

I finally understand what you mean. Not all emotions translate to words.

There is more I need to say. I don’t know how.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Witcher,

Perhaps you could show me. ;)

With skyrocketing desire,

The brilliant bard oft called Jaskier

  
  


Jaskier,

Find me and I’ll show you everything. I need to kiss you. If you let me stay, I’ll give back everything I took.

Geralt

  
  


Dear Geralt,

I’m already on my way. I have been for a week. I can’t stand another day without you, and by the time this reaches you, I shouldn’t have to. Find us a bed where we might have some privacy for a few hours, because I have a great deal to show you too, and I want to take my time doing so. My hands can be put to far better use than writing these letters. ;)

With eternal tenderness,

Your Jaskier.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading! i think yennefer is super cool and i think she totally becomes close friends with them both after this ends despite her and jaskier's difficult start
> 
> please name jaskier’s bird in the comments. all suggestions are canon


End file.
